It’s never a great sign when your boss brings someone in who does pretty much what you do and, lately anyway, has been doing it better. That’s what Tigers closer Joe Nathan is contending with right now as, following a couple of shaky months, the Tigers have brought in Joakim Soria. Nathan is still the closer, but it’s clear that, should he falter, Soria is around to take over.

Perhaps that motivated Nathan last night, as Nathan struck out all three Angels hitters he faced in the ninth, locking down the save with only 12 pitches.

Maybe it wasn’t Soria himself that motivated Nathan. Maybe the mere whispers that the Tigers were seeking to add a reliever worked, because it’s now three good outings in a row for him. Indeed, he’s struck out five and given up just one hit and has issued no walks in three consecutive shutout appearances.

But whether it’s all about motivation or, instead, Nathan coincidentally returning to form, Detroit having two potentially shut-down relievers in the pen in Nathan and Soria would be a game-changer for them. And would make them extremely difficult to face in the playoffs.

The Oakland Athletics ballpark saga has dragged on for years and years and years. They’ve considered San Jose, Fremont and at least three locations in Oakland as potential new ballpark sites. The whole process has lasted almost as long as the Braves and Rangers played in their old parks before building new ones.

In the past several months the Athletics’ “stay in Oakland” plan has gained momentum. At one point the club thought it had an agreement to build a new place near Peralta/Laney College in downtown Oakland. There have been hiccups with that, so two other sites — Howard Terminal, favored by city officials — and the current Oakland Coliseum site have remained in play. There are pros and cons to each of these sites, as we have discussed in the past.

One consideration not mentioned before was mentioned by team president David Kaval yesterday: sea level rise due to climate change. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Kaval mentioned twice that the Howard Terminal site would have to take into account sea-level rise and transportation concerns — and he said there have been conversations with the city and county and the Joint Powers Authority about developing the Coliseum site.

The Howard Terminal/Jack London Square area of Oakland has been identified as susceptible to dramatically increased flooding as a result of projected sea level rise due to climate change. On the other side of the bay both the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors have had to consider sea level rise in their stadium/arena development plans. Now it’s the Athletics’ turn.

Fifteen of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams play in coastal areas and another five of them play near the Great Lakes. While some of our politicians don’t seem terribly concerned about it all, people and organizations who will have skin the game 10, 20 and 50 years from now, like the Oakland Athletics, are taking it into account.